pmd

pmd documentation

Version in MegaLinter: 6.48.0
Visit Official Web Site
See How to configure pmd rules
- If custom java-pmd-ruleset.xml config file is not found, java-pmd-ruleset.xml will be used
See How to disable pmd rules in files
See Index of problems detected by pmd

Configuration in MegaLinter

Enable pmd by adding JAVA_PMD in ENABLE_LINTERS variable
Disable pmd by adding JAVA_PMD in DISABLE_LINTERS variable

Variable	Description	Default value
JAVA_PMD_ARGUMENTS	User custom arguments to add in linter CLI call Ex: `-s --foo "bar"`
JAVA_PMD_FILTER_REGEX_INCLUDE	Custom regex including filter Ex: `(src\\|lib)`	Include every file
JAVA_PMD_FILTER_REGEX_EXCLUDE	Custom regex excluding filter Ex: `(test\\|examples)`	Exclude no file
JAVA_PMD_CLI_LINT_MODE	Override default CLI lint mode - `file`: Calls the linter for each file - `list_of_files`: Call the linter with the list of files as argument - `project`: Call the linter from the root of the project	`list_of_files`
JAVA_PMD_FILE_EXTENSIONS	Allowed file extensions. `"*"` matches any extension, `""` matches empty extension. Empty list excludes all files Ex: `[".py", ""]`	`[".java"]`
JAVA_PMD_FILE_NAMES_REGEX	File name regex filters. Regular expression list for filtering files by their base names using regex full match. Empty list includes all files Ex: `["Dockerfile(-.+)?", "Jenkinsfile"]`	Include every file
JAVA_PMD_PRE_COMMANDS	List of bash commands to run before the linter	None
JAVA_PMD_POST_COMMANDS	List of bash commands to run after the linter	None
JAVA_PMD_CONFIG_FILE	pmd configuration file nameUse `LINTER_DEFAULT` to let the linter find it	`java-pmd-ruleset.xml`
JAVA_PMD_RULES_PATH	Path where to find linter configuration file	Workspace folder, then MegaLinter default rules
JAVA_PMD_DISABLE_ERRORS	Run linter but consider errors as warnings	`false`
JAVA_PMD_DISABLE_ERRORS_IF_LESS_THAN	Maximum number of errors allowed	`0`

MegaLinter Flavours

This linter is available in the following flavours

Flavor	Description	Embedded linters
all	Default MegaLinter Flavor	114
cupcake	MegaLinter for the most commonly used languages	82
java	Optimized for JAVA based projects	51

Behind the scenes

How are identified applicable files

File extensions: .java

How the linting is performed

pmd is called once with the list of files as arguments (list_of_files CLI lint mode)

Example calls

pmd --rulesets java-pmd-ruleset.xml --dir myfile.java

pmd --rulesets java-pmd-ruleset.xml --file-list /tmp/list-off-files-generated-by-megalinter.txt

pmd --rulesets java-pmd-ruleset.xml --dir /path/to/sources

Help content

Usage: <main class> [options]
  Options:
    --aux-classpath, -auxclasspath
       Specifies the classpath for libraries used by the source code. This is
       used to resolve types in Java source files. The platform specific path
       delimiter (":" on Linux, ";" on Windows) is used to separate the entries.
       Alternatively, a single 'file:' URL to a text file containing path elements on
       consecutive lines can be specified.
    --benchmark, -benchmark, -b
       Benchmark mode - output a benchmark report upon completion; default to
       System.err.
       Default: false
    --cache, -cache
       Specify the location of the cache file for incremental analysis. This
       should be the full path to the file, including the desired file name (not just
       the parent directory). If the file doesn't exist, it will be created on the
       first run. The file will be overwritten on each run with the most up-to-date
       rule violations.
    --dir, -dir, -d
       Path to a source file, or directory containing source files to analyze.
       Note that a file is only effectively added if it matches a language known by
       PMD. Zip and Jar files are also supported, if they are specified directly
       (archive files found while exploring a directory are not recursively expanded).
       This option can be repeated, and multiple arguments can be provided to a
       single occurrence of the option. One of --dir, --file-list or --uri must be
       provided.
       Default: []
    --encoding, -encoding, -e
       Specifies the character set encoding of the source code files PMD is
       reading (i.e., UTF-8).
       Default: UTF-8
    --fail-on-violation, --failOnViolation, -failOnViolation
       By default PMD exits with status 4 if violations are found. Disable this
       option with '-failOnViolation false' to exit with 0 instead and just write the
       report.
       Default: true
    --file-list, -filelist
       Path to a file containing a list of files to analyze, one path per line.
       One of --dir, --file-list or --uri must be provided.
    --force-language, -force-language
       Force a language to be used for all input files, irrespective of file
       names. When using this option, the automatic language selection by extension is
       disabled, and PMD tries to parse all input files with the given language's parser.
       Parsing errors are ignored.
    --format, -format, -f
       Report format type.
       Default: text
    --help, -help, -h, -H
       Display help on usage.
       Default: false
    --ignore-list, -ignorelist
       Path to a file containing a list of files to exclude from the analysis,
       one path per line. This option can be combined with --dir and --file-list.
    --minimum-priority, -minimumpriority, -min
       Rule priority threshold; rules with lower priority than configured here
       won't be used. Valid values are integers between 1 and 5 (inclusive), with 5
       being the lowest priority.
       Default: 5
    --no-cache, -no-cache
       Explicitly disable incremental analysis. The '-cache' option is ignored
       if this switch is present in the command line.
       Default: false
    --no-ruleset-compatibility, -norulesetcompatibility
       Disable the ruleset compatibility filter. The filter is active by default
       and tries automatically 'fix' old ruleset files with old rule names
       Default: false
    --property, -property, -P
       {name}={value}: Define a property for the report format.
       Default: []
    --report-file, -reportfile, -r
       Path to a file to which report output is written. The file is created if
       it does not exist. If this option is not specified, the report is rendered
       to standard output.
  * --rulesets, -rulesets, -R
       Path to a ruleset xml file. The path may reference a resource on the
       classpath of the application, be a local file system path, or a URL. The option can
       be repeated, and multiple arguments can be provided to a single occurrence
       of the option.
    --short-names, -shortnames
       Prints shortened filenames in the report.
       Default: false
    --show-suppressed, -showsuppressed
       Report should show suppressed rule violations.
       Default: false
    --stress, -stress, -S
       Performs a stress test.
       Default: false
    --suppress-marker, -suppressmarker
       Specifies the string that marks a line which PMD should ignore; default
       is NOPMD.
       Default: NOPMD
    --threads, -threads, -t
       Sets the number of threads used by PMD.
       Default: 1
    --uri, -uri, -u
       Database URI for sources. One of --dir, --file-list or --uri must be
       provided.
    --debug, --verbose, -debug, -verbose, -D, -V
       Debug mode.
       Default: false
    --version
       Display current version of PMD and exit without performing any analysis.
       Default: false
    -language, -l
       Specify a language PMD should use.
    -version, -v
       Specify version of a language PMD should use.


Mandatory arguments:
1) A java source code filename or directory
2) A report format
3) A ruleset filename or a comma-delimited string of ruleset filenames

For example:
C:\>pmd-bin-6.48.0\bin\pmd.bat -d c:\my\source\code -f html -R java-unusedcode

Languages and version suported:
apex, ecmascript, html, java, jsp, modelica, plsql, pom, scala, vf, vm, wsdl, xml, xsl

Available report formats and their configuration properties are:
   codeclimate: Code Climate integration.
   csv: Comma-separated values tabular format.
        problem - Include Problem column   default: true
        package - Include Package column   default: true
        file - Include File column   default: true
        priority - Include Priority column   default: true
        line - Include Line column   default: true
        desc - Include Description column   default: true
        ruleSet - Include Rule set column   default: true
        rule - Include Rule column   default: true
   emacs: GNU Emacs integration.
   empty: Empty, nothing.
   html: HTML format
        linePrefix - Prefix for line number anchor in the source file.
        linkPrefix - Path to HTML source.
        htmlExtension - Replace file extension with .html for the links (default: false)   default: false
   ideaj: IntelliJ IDEA integration.
        classAndMethodName - Class and Method name, pass '.method' when processing a directory.   default:
        sourcePath - Source path.   default:
        fileName - File name.   default:
   json: JSON format.
   sarif: Static Analysis Results Interchange Format (SARIF)
   summaryhtml: Summary HTML format.
        linePrefix - Prefix for line number anchor in the source file.
        linkPrefix - Path to HTML source.
        htmlExtension - Replace file extension with .html for the links (default: false)   default: false
   text: Text format.
   textcolor: Text format, with color support (requires ANSI console support, e.g. xterm, rxvt, etc.).
        color - Enables colors with anything other than 'false' or '0'.   default: yes
   textpad: TextPad integration.
   vbhtml: Vladimir Bossicard HTML format.
   xml: XML format.
        encoding - XML encoding format, defaults to UTF-8.   default: UTF-8
   xslt: XML with a XSL Transformation applied.
        encoding - XML encoding format, defaults to UTF-8.   default: UTF-8
        xsltFilename - The XSLT file name.
   yahtml: Yet Another HTML format.
        outputDir - Output directory.

For example on windows:
C:\>pmd-bin-6.48.0\bin\pmd.bat -dir c:\my\source\code -format text -R rulesets/java/quickstart.xml -version 1.5 -language java -debug
C:\>pmd-bin-6.48.0\bin\pmd.bat -dir c:\my\source\code -f xml -rulesets rulesets/java/quickstart.xml,category/java/codestyle.xml -encoding UTF-8
C:\>pmd-bin-6.48.0\bin\pmd.bat -d c:\my\source\code -rulesets rulesets/java/quickstart.xml -auxclasspath lib\commons-collections.jar;lib\derby.jar
C:\>pmd-bin-6.48.0\bin\pmd.bat -d c:\my\source\code -f html -R rulesets/java/quickstart.xml -auxclasspath file:///C:/my/classpathfile

For example on *nix:
$ pmd-bin-6.48.0/bin/run.sh pmd -dir /home/workspace/src/main/java/code -f html -rulesets rulesets/java/quickstart.xml,category/java/codestyle.xml
$ pmd-bin-6.48.0/bin/run.sh pmd -d ./src/main/java/code -R rulesets/java/quickstart.xml -f xslt -property xsltFilename=my-own.xsl
$ pmd-bin-6.48.0/bin/run.sh pmd -d ./src/main/java/code -f html -R rulesets/java/quickstart.xml -auxclasspath commons-collections.jar:derby.jar

Installation on mega-linter Docker image

Dockerfile commands :

# Parent descriptor install
ENV JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk
ENV PATH="$JAVA_HOME/bin:${PATH}"
# Linter install
ARG PMD_VERSION=6.48.0
RUN wget --quiet https://github.com/pmd/pmd/releases/download/pmd_releases%2F${PMD_VERSION}/pmd-bin-${PMD_VERSION}.zip && \
    unzip pmd-bin-${PMD_VERSION}.zip && \
    rm pmd-bin-${PMD_VERSION}.zip && \
    mv pmd-bin-${PMD_VERSION} /usr/bin/pmd && \
    chmod +x /usr/bin/pmd/bin/run.sh